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Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
By:peter czerpak
Date: 7/27/2000, 12:13 pm
In Response To: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft *Pic* (Shawn B)

: After reading the WoodenBoat article on the Bird's Mouth Technique for making
: hollow spars, I thought, "Hey, that could be used for paddle
: shafts".

: The magic of the bird's mouth technique is that the pieces are all
: self-aligning and no special jigs or fixtures are needed.

: So, last night, I laid up my first one.

: I used 6 strips of 1/4" x 7/16" spruce, and 2 strips of 1/4" x
: 11/16" spruce (to make it oval). One narrow edge of each strip had a
: 45* rabbet cut in it to receive the corner of the adjacent piece.

: Notice that I increased my strip sizes from those shown to give me an overall
: paddle shaft size of about 1 1/8" x 1 3/8". The sizes shown are
: for a shaft sized for my wife, which I'll lay up tonight.

: I used 8 SS hose clamps and a generous assortment of spring clamps to hold it
: all together. When it was all clamped (ends tightly clamped, middle
: loosely clamped) I grabbed the ends where you'd place your hands with
: screw clamps and twisted a 65* or so right feather into the shaft. Voila!
: A hollow, feathered shaft. I just need to figure out a nice way to plug
: the ends where they're exposed at the blades.

: I also plan to lay up a few straight shafts to build Greenland paddles or
: take-apart paddles.

: Shawn

very nice. make that composite core and you're all set to decrease the thickness of the wood and increase stiffness.

Pete albany, NY

Messages In This Thread

WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft *Pic*
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 10:32 am
Re: Good Going Shawn!! *Pic*
Bill Boyd -- 7/30/2000, 9:04 pm
Blade Idea
mike allen ---> -- 7/31/2000, 5:52 pm
Re: Why stop there? *Pic*
Bill Boyd -- 8/1/2000, 11:22 am
Re: Why stop there?
Shawn B -- 8/1/2000, 1:36 pm
Re: Thank you Shawn!
Bill Boyd -- 8/1/2000, 8:26 pm
Don't you know where to stop?????
mike allen ---> -- 8/1/2000, 12:36 pm
Re: Blade Idea - Like for Kent Boutillier
mike allen ---> -- 7/31/2000, 7:28 pm
Lamenting le LE lost, lonely & leftout - (nt)
mike allen ---> -- 7/31/2000, 7:42 pm
Re: Good Going Shawn!!
Ross Leidy -- 7/31/2000, 10:14 am
Re: Good Going Shawn!!
Bill Boyd -- 7/31/2000, 11:49 am
Seal the inside with epoxy
Dale Frolander -- 7/28/2000, 2:39 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Spidey -- 7/27/2000, 5:08 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Mike Nicholson -- 7/27/2000, 5:35 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 6:49 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
TomRobb -- 7/28/2000, 10:27 am
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 5:26 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Spidey -- 7/27/2000, 6:21 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Ron Eike -- 7/28/2000, 7:37 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Rehd -- 7/27/2000, 1:20 pm
Re: Possible failure?
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 2:50 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Rob Forsell -- 7/27/2000, 12:57 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Don Beale -- 7/27/2000, 12:28 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 12:58 pm
Re:I have to disagree with the crowd
Don Beale -- 7/28/2000, 12:05 am
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Mike Hanks -- 7/27/2000, 1:32 pm
Re: Got weep holes?
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 1:52 pm
eliminate the need for weepholes
Paul G. Jacobson -- 7/28/2000, 1:08 am
Re: Got weep holes?
Craig Doyle -- 7/27/2000, 2:59 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
peter czerpak -- 7/27/2000, 12:13 pm
Re: Composite cored Bird's Mouth
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 12:56 pm
Re: Composite cored Bird's Mouth
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 7/28/2000, 10:12 am
Possible composite core technique
Paul G. Jacobson -- 7/28/2000, 12:56 am
Re: Composite cored Bird's Mouth
Bill Boyd -- 7/27/2000, 9:36 pm
Re: Hollow core=Brilliant!
Shawn Baker -- 7/28/2000, 12:29 am
Re: yup *Pic*
Bill Boyd -- 7/29/2000, 4:00 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Mike Hanks -- 7/27/2000, 11:05 am
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Shawn B -- 7/27/2000, 1:01 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
j -- 7/28/2000, 3:51 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Jason -- 7/28/2000, 4:26 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
jtmc -- 7/28/2000, 11:38 pm
Re: Twist in Bird's Mouth
Shawn B -- 7/28/2000, 4:22 pm
Re: WoodenBoat Bird's Mouth Paddle Shaft
Ross Leidy -- 7/27/2000, 10:44 am